Results for Parliament

The eagerly awaited final report of Tonga's Constitutional and Electoral Commission released this week, contains some 80 recommendations on how to structure a new system of government for Tonga. While there are no surprises, the Commission does voice a concern over an apparent lack of understanding of its aims and the actual contents of its reports by some of the members of the House, who will be trusted with making the final decision on the new structure. By Pesi Fonua

A Senior Marine Engineer who surveyed the MV Princess Ashika vessel in Nuku'alofa on July 2 said he told the Acting Director for the Marine Division on numerous occasions that vessel was in an unfit condition, and on one occasion he specifically asked him to stop it from sailing.

Large holes were revealed on the side of the MV Princess Ashika in a range of pictures released by the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the sinking of the MV Princess Ashika yesterday, November 9.

Important testimony by John Jonesse, Managing Director of the Shipping Corporation of Polynesia Ltd., was cut short today when the SCP board cut off his access to corporate legal defence, thereby forcing an adjournment of the Ashika ferry inquiry.

Fiji Marine Survey Certificates issued on the MV Princess Ashika in 2009 confirmed there were increasing safety concerns from the Fiji Marine Board and Fiji International Safety Administration on the deteriorating condition of the vessel.

A thorough survey of the MV Princess Ashika was not carried out before it was purchased by the Tongan Government, the Managing Director of Shipping Corporation of Polynesia Ltd., John Jonesse, told the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the sinking of the MV Princess Ashika, this morning, November 3.

Paul Karalus the former Minister of Transport who resigned on July 11, six days after the sinking of the MV Princess Ashika on August 5 will give evidence on December 14 at the Royal Commission of Inquiry, Nuku'alofa.

A welder and fitter for the Shipping Corporation of Polynesia Ltd Manase Katoa, in his testimony this morning at the Inquiry into the sinking of the MV Princess Ashika reaffirmed the advanced level of rust and corrosion of the vessel and how unfit it was to operate in Tonga.

Tongan Prime Minister, Dr Feleti Sevele, in a special speech to the Tongan parliament on October 8 gave a brief outline of a new way of government under a Constituency Electoral System that the Tongan government, the Cabinet and Privy Council, want to have in place before the new elections on November 2010. By Pesi Fonua